The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth announced that its Center for Indic Studies will host a special seminar conducted by Mr. C. M. Bhandari, the Joint Secretary for the Ministry of External Affairs in the federal government of India. The seminar will be held on March 1 in the Library Browsing Area from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Secretary Bhandari will address the politics and realities associated with business outsourcing by companies in the United States and other nations.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth announced that its Center for Indic Studies will host a special seminar conducted by Mr. C. M. Bhandari, the Joint Secretary for the Ministry of External Affairs in the federal government of India. The seminar will be held on March 1 in the Library Browsing Area from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Secretary Bhandari will address the politics and realities associated with business outsourcing by companies in the United States and other nations.

In India, thousands of businesses have closed because they were rendered uncompetitive after the opening of the Indian economy in 1991. For example, India’s traditional textile sector employed hundreds of thousands of people but today, state of the art textile mills with gigantic technological capacity have replaced the older, less productive mills thus eliminating thousands of jobs. As the world increasingly moves toward globalization in a free and fair market economy, business outsourcing is more popular than ever and India has become a prime location for that activity.

”The BPO revolution has spread in India because it is not capital intensive. It is knowledge intensive of which there is no dearth in India,” said Professor Bal Ram Singh, Director of the Center for Indic Studies at UMass Dartmouth. “In the past, India did not catch up with the rest of the world in industrialization because it lacked capital and initially even the technology to be competitive,” he added.

C. M. Bhandari has been a brilliant scholar of science and philosophy throughout his career. He joined the Indian diplomatic service in 1974, serving in Bangkok, Oslo, Lagos, and Canberra. He also served as India’s Ambassador to Cambodia, and as Consul General in Toronto.

Throughout his career in the Indian public service, Mr. Bhandari has held several important assignments at the Ministry of External Affairs. Currently he supervises India’s foreign policy relations in multilateral organizations like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. Mr. Bhandari is author of three books, Saving Angkor, 1996, A Journey to Heaven, 1998, and Yoga Shakti, 2002. His lecture will focus on whether businesses can survive without outsourcing certain business processes to developing countries.

“ In the 56 years since its independence, India has developed abundant technology and also sufficient capital resources. It has therefore been possible for India to exercise required changes in its economy in a bid to become internationally more competitive,” said Dr. Singh.

“Given the strategic alliance being forged between India and the United States based on their common interest and value of democracy, it is important for the two nations to join hands in creating opportunities for their people” Dr. Singh added.

The seminar is free and open to the public. Parking is available in lot 13. Individuals interested in obtaining additional information about the UMass Dartmouth Center for Indic Studies should contact Dr. Singh at 508-999-8588.